The Circle Closes
by Mister Prongs
Summary: Whatever happens after the 4 Circle Opens books? Well here it is, it even has a plot!
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters; they all belong to Tamora Pierce. Shall we praise her genius?  
  
A/N: I was scanning Tamora's fan-fiction and it took me forever to find a f- f (fan-fiction) of Sandry and Briar, much less of the four. Well, after checking out my other favorite authors, discworld and Daughters of the Moon, I came back to Tamora's f-f's and decided to write one. I wasn't sure at first what to write about but decided that what was really bugging me is that Tamora hasn't written a last book of the Circle of Magic, after the Circle Opens. When they all see each other again, I mean, at least I haven't found it. The book... anyway, so this idea came to my head, I hope you like it! (and if I have more a/n's you probably don't have to read them, but you can I mean you could stop reading this a/n... but you haven't yet... see your still reading. I COMMAND YOU TO STOP! Still reading aren't you...*)(btw- stars, such as *, mean at the bottom of the page there will be more, like a note or something... or an explanation... and if you like little stars, like *, you'll like Terry Pratchett (discworld) who is pure genius, like me... okay, I'll get on with the story)  
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Briar Moss groaned at his pounding headache. He was sitting in the back of a caravan headed to Summersea, whereupon he would travel to Discipline, his cottage. They, him, Rosethorn, and Evvy, still had a few days left to travel. Evvy glanced at her teacher with a confused look on her face. "What are you looking at?" Briar snapped as she cleared her throat. He glared at her and then leaned his head back on a sack.  
They stopped at an inn on the side of the rode, as twilight was just coming on. Briar got out of the caravan that Rosethorn was driving, with a cat-like grace that even dogs could see something wrong with. Evvy popped out of the caravan after Briar, noting the way that he stumbled after he hit the ground, not getting out like he usually did, which was jumping straight up from his seat to the ground. This time it was more of a clamber, and then a jump to make it look like he was fine.  
Rosethorn hadn't been paying attention, Briar never really got sick. Not after all those years in Deadman's District.  
As Briar stumbled through the rain to the barred door of the inn Evvy went to Rosethorn and whispered in her ear. Evvy knew that Briar would maim, if not kill her, for alerting Rosethorn of his predicament. Especially when Briar hadn't confided in her how he felt.  
Rosethorn's head shot up, staring at Briar's back as he slowly made his way to the door. Her eyes scanned the darkness for anything hiding. This wasn't the best part of town, but after leaving the caravan of the weather-mage, and joining another one, a poorer one, they had been in poorer parts of the district.  
Briar, as if sensing eyes on him, straightened up. He regained his usual jaunty walk. Sauntering he went to lift the bar on the door of the inn. His hair was plastered onto his head from the rain. Evvy had grabbed her cats and was now following Rosethorn as she strode to catch up with Briar.  
Briar visibly quivered as he strove to lift the bar. Rosethorn then got extremely worried. Briar wasn't a weak man; he usually had the bar lifted just as fast as you could say 'Boy, it's raining out, open the door!'*** As Briar heard the steps behind him, he struggled to lift he bar, what would Rosethorn say if Briar told her he was sick?  
Rosethorn's pace quickened as she saw Briar's knees weakening. She sent her magic out to help him. Rosethorn felt something stopping her from getting to Briar. It was Briar's own magic.  
Briar had sent out his magic when Rosethorn went to lend him strength. She would have felt how low and weak his magic was. It had been draining even since the first of his headaches, the one yesterday morning. Even though Briar's magic was low, he sent enough out to get in touch with his shakkan, which had lent him enough magic to stop Rosethorn from worrying. He had to send some out to stop her advance, though, because mixed with his magic, the one inside of him, she could tell the difference. Between his and the shakkan's that is.  
Rosethorn pressed at his magic. Briar sent more to stop her. Suddenly Briar's magic collapsed. Briar fell with it. Rosethorn rushed to his side in a dignified way. Briar was out cold, and the night was getting colder. The caravan they were with had already entered the inn, where they were going to find anther one, headed more towards Winding Circle than Summersea.  
Rosethorn bent to check his pulse, the barely was one. She sent her magic into him, with an abundance of it if he tried to stop her again. Evvy ran up then.  
"Get this bar off and inside, girl. I have no idea where the caravan went. Do you have all of our belongings?" Rosethorn had no magic stopping her way into him this time.  
"Yes, Rosethorn," as Evvy lifted the bar she said, "All of our belongings are right to the side of me." Rosethorn gasped as she felt his magic dwindling away. There was only a speck left, and if it disappeared then Briar would die. Rosethorn quickly sent herself into him, like he had done for her. Evvy had heard the gasp and peered at Briar. "Is he dead?" Evvy asked, fear creeping into her voice. Rosethorn shook her head.  
Evvy turned to make sure no one was behind them. It was Evvy's turn to gasp. She turned and tapped Rosethorn. Rosethorn shook her head at Evvy.  
Rosethorn was deep in her magic. She had woven a ring of briars around Briar's magic to keep it from dwindling away. Not knowing that as she did that for Briar, Frostpine did it for Daja, and Niko did it for Tris.  
Once Rosethorn's wall of briars was finished she turned to Evvy. "What is it?"  
Evvy just pointed to an empty street. Empty? What happened to the caravan? "Did we get all of our items?" asked Rosethorn, her concern more for Briar than personal belongings. Evvy nodded and pointed to her right.  
  
"Well let's get in the inn, and hope I can wake Briar up, why didn't he tell us he was sick? He could die! I'll hang him in the well after he wakes up!" Rosethorn picked up Briar and went in, followed by Evvy, who had picked up all of their belongings.  
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*Your still reading, still, your continuing to read... **If you press and hold down alt and press the numbers to your right, not up top, you'll get little characters. Like alt then 1 then 5 get you ¤ and alt, 2, 1 get you §... they are a ton of then ranging from 1 number too a myriad of numbers... *** or as Evvy says, 'I'll sic my cats on you, Pahan Briar, I WANT IN!' or 'Boy, I'll ha-', another one of Rosethorn, cut off because the bar is up.  
  
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A/N: So what do you think? *small, not noticeable hint* REVIEW PLEASE!!!!! Thanx 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the mentioned characters; I give all the credit to Tamora Pierce.  
  
A/N: If you like my style of writing, well I was planning to put some up one fictionpress.com but I might not depending on the time I have... PLEASE REVIEW, I know that those who have put stories up would like reviews, just like I do.... so please take five seconds and review. I'm constantly updating my work, including the first chapter so it's always changing, but more with small words, like a word placed wrong or misspelled. Thank you all who reviewed! Sandry was purposely left out, you'll understand why later...Thanks for the information on the book Tamora is writing, hope it's out soon, yeah paraphernalia, when I read back over it, looked really stupid so I took it out, and I hope you continue to review. This next chapter had Tris in it and I...I dunno the word, but I guess I don't know as much about Tris, I only read Shatterglass once, and I'm planning to reread it so if I do something wrong or put something in that isn't supposed to be in there please tell me and I'll correct it. For those who haven't read the Circle Opens books Evvy is Briar's student, Keth is Tris' and Glaki is a child that Tris picked up before heading back to Summersea. Anyway, on with the story!  
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Rosethorn sat by Briar's bed in the inn. It was after nightfall and the inn had been reluctant to let them stay. Drinking and carousing was still going on downstairs, but had quieted down after Rosethorn had had her say. Her and Evvy were going to share a room, while they let Briar have his own. But after Briar had fallen Rosethorn had ignored that she had a room for herself and pulled a mattress in with Briar. Evvy now had her own room, which she had never had, only a cave shared with others or an inn room shared with Rosethorn or Briar.  
Evvy, too, was worried about Briar. She had known him for maybe three months now and he had never needed help. And even if he had he would go to Rosethorn. When Briar fell it had filled Evvy with a premonition of fear. She had never known him to be weak.  
Briar was what, some would say, deep inside himself. He felt no magic in him anywhere. It was almost as if he was looking down at himself, from somewhere so far away... like stars were huge and suns were small... like wind was no only air, but a live thing, like animals were nothing and atmosphere was dominant. He wouldn't of known this place is he hadn't been here before. When he had gone after Rosethorn. A place just like it, only instead of being ready for him, like it was for Rosethorn; it had no magic, no life. Death was all around; no plants or gardens to take care of. It was a gray; barren place full of misery, and Briar didn't like it here.  
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Trisana Chandler walked down a plank way into Sotat, Summersea still days away. Why Niko, Niklaren Goldeye, wouldn't just have let her have her way and sail straight to Summersea she was uncertain. Niko, though, always got his way, maybe because he scared people. So Tris didn't argue with him, only grumbled for about four hours that t. He finally retorted here was something he wanted her to see before they went back to Discipline.  
She stepped off the gangplank into a city full of depression. She shivered, though lately she wasn't as scared of grime as usual. Maybe Niko had taken her into the poorer parts of cities. A man pulling a small horse, more like a pony, walked past her. The man shouted an insult to her as he passed.  
"YOUR RIGHT!" she yelled after him. "I AM A SILLY BLEATER, YOU INBRED PIECE OF..." Niko put a hand on her shoulder. She stopped yelling and quickly glanced at Niko. He had turned around and had gotten back on the ship. He was paying the captain. She turned to the man who was making faces at her. She ran her fingers along a braid that was wrapped around her head, and flicked a miniature lighting blot at the man. He turned and ran; common men shouldn't interfere with mages. Keth came off the ship after Niko had gone back on. He was carrying Chime, her glass dragon, and Glaki. Glaki was going to Winding Circle. Then, after Tris had left Glaki, hoping she fit in, Tris would head to Discipline, where she hoped Sandry, Daja, and Briar were. Little Bear romped off the ship after Niko, who had come back down the plank. Men carrying luggage followed Niko down.  
Tris suddenly felt like something had hit her over the head. It was odd, she thought, she had just had a headache like this yesterday. Her eyes fluttered. She had told Niko about her headache yesterday, but he'd get worried if she told him it happened two days in a row. Her hands went up and she clutched her head. She started to rock back and forth. The pounding in her head wouldn't go away.  
"Tris?" asked Keth. Glaki leaned over Keth's arms and tugged on Tris's shirt.  
"Tris! Trisana, talk to me!" Niko commanded. This must have been another one of those headaches she had had yesterday. She had described it as skull splitting. She said that if she put her fingers up to her forehead she could feel the headache pounding. Not knowing, of course, that Briar also had had such a headache. So had Daja.  
"Keth put down Glaki and Chime and pick Tris up. We must find somewhere to stay at." Niko motioned for the men with the luggage to follow Niko as he set off at a fast pace towards a likely looking house."  
Niko rapped on the door of an inn, and an old, hunch-backed man answered the door. "No visitors!"  
"We'd like a room, please. Soon."  
"No roo... One will be ready in a minute, please come in and relax by the fire." Niko went in and had Keth place Tris on a table. He checked her pulse. There wasn't one. He went to where her magic was. Just like Briar's there was barely any magic left. With a magical hand he scooped up the seed of magic. He nursed it so that it was big enough that he could wake her up. Then, as her eyes began to flutter open, he surrounded it with his magic to keep it from disappearing.  
Tris's eyes began to open, but as they opened, she was still somewhere way off. The place was color-less. It had no love or life. The sky was dull, it had no color. There was no wind blowing. Everything was still. Tris felt angry at the place, she wanted to hit it, to kill it. At least make it go away.  
As Tris' eyes opened Niko peered into them. They had rolled back into her head and all Niko could see was the white part.  
Niko gently slapped Tris's face. She gave no hint of being able to feel it. This is serious, Niko thought, more serious than I thought.  
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A/N: sorry, I bet so many a/n's are bugging you... all I have to say in this one all I want to know is, does Daja have a student, and if so who? B/c I'm confused with her book Cold Fire and I am going to read it again but I don't know if I'll be done by the time I start my next chapter and that one will have Daja in it. So review and please tell me if you know... 


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